Youth Orchestras

The Holland Area Youth Orchestras is committed to pre-professional training of young

musicians in the greater Holland area of elementary through high school age who join the

orchestra through a competitive audition process.

The Holland Symphony Youth Orchestras is comprised of two orchestras:

The Holland Area Youth Orchestra is an auditioned high school orchestra.

The Holland Area Junior Strings is a non-auditioned middle school string orchestra.

Holland Area Youth Orchestra (HAYO):

Formed in 1988, HAYO has grown from a string orchestra of 35 players to a full orchestra (strings, winds, and percussion), grades 6 – 12, of 65 members. Members of HAYO represent many different schools in the greater Holland and Lakeshore area and are auditioned for membership and chair placement. Chamber music opportunities are available for: an Honors string quartet, a woodwind ensemble, and a brass ensemble. Two formal concerts are scheduled during the season, one in late fall and the other in early spring, as well as a joint concert with the HSO every other year. Former conductors have been Mr. Harold Geerdes, Mr. Cal Langejans, Mr. Steven Benham, and Dr. Russell Floyd. The current conductor is Richard Piippo.

Holland Area Junior Strings (HAJS):

HAJS is a string orchestra started in 1997 for students in grades 6-9 who may not be quite ready for the difficulty level of the Youth Orchestra. The Junior Strings performs at the HSYO concerts and is administered by the Holland Symphony Youth Orchestras Steering Committee and the Holland Symphony Orchestra. The founding conductor was Deborah Craioveanu. The current conductor as of 2014 is David Lee.

Goals

We are committed to use standard orchestral literature for a full symphonic orchestra in

addition to programmatic arrangements for youth orchestras.

We focus on education as well as performance. We cultivate excellence under an